One thing we know with certainty is that all leads are not created equal, making lead scoring crucial for marketers so they can determine prospect readiness and take appropriate action at the right time. Increasingly, automation is key since spreadsheets and calculators can no longer do the job given the volume of leads and their varying sources, interactions and demographics. Marketers don’t have time to track leads and crunch complex numbers while also crafting innovative product campaigns.
Similarly, metrics used to track and evaluate marketing programs must change, since today a simple “hit” on a website might mean far less than a combination of hits or other actions by the same prospect over time.
This isn’t to say that metrics regarding hits on websites are unimportant, or that you shouldn’t track email clicks. However, they are no longer the endpoint; instead they are just the beginning of real marketing analytics used to determine where each lead is in the buying process, and how to respond.
As marketers, we must change how we track and score prospect behavior to determine when a lead is truly a lead and ready to be passed to sales. As part of this, we must also identify ways to nurture early leads into “sales ready” buyers. What this means is that marketing must be able to recognize which leads are ripe and which still need time on the vine—then grow those leads accordingly.
Lead scoring helps make an accurate determination of how ripe each lead really is.
Lisa Cramer is president and co-founder of LeadLife Solutions, a provider of on-demand lead management software that generates, scores, and nurtures leads for B2B marketers. For more information on lead management or best practices call 1-800-680-6292 or email [email protected].
